The suspected terror attack aboard a flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv is "a reality-changing event for global aviation," Channel 12 military correspondent Nir Dvori said Wednesday evening, warning of concern over copycat attacks.
"It will have repercussions not only for the State of Israel but for other countries as well," Dvori said. "There is concern about inspired attacks."
Israeli officials share that concern. Walla reported earlier Wednesday that Israel fears copycat and inspired terror attacks following the incident.
The attack has already triggered stricter security measures. Flydubai flights landing at Ben Gurion Airport are being directed to a separate area for comprehensive checks of the aircraft and crews, to rule out the involvement of additional pilots, Calcalist reported, and Israel Hayom reported that all flydubai aircrews are undergoing thorough background checks. Security officials and the Israel Airports Authority are also investigating how the Omani co-pilot was cleared to fly to Israel. According to an Israeli official quoted by Ynet, he had never landed in Israel before.
Transportation Minister Miri Regev has demanded that all flydubai flights to Israel be halted until the incident is fully investigated, and that Israeli airlines be allowed to resume flights to Dubai under Israeli security screening.
The incident raises one of aviation's most difficult security questions: how to guard against a threat from inside the cockpit. Reinforced cockpit doors, introduced worldwide after the September 11 attacks, are designed to keep attackers out, but offer no protection when the threat comes from one of the pilots. The danger was starkly illustrated in 2015, when Germanwings co-pilot Andreas Lubitz deliberately crashed an Airbus A320 into the French Alps, killing all 150 people on board.
On Wednesday, the Omani co-pilot of flight FZ1073 allegedly stabbed the captain and sent the Boeing 737 MAX 8 into a plunge of about 18,000 feet in under two minutes. Israeli passengers broke into the cockpit and helped off-duty pilots on board regain control, and the plane landed safely in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. Defense Minister Israel Katz called it "an attempted jihadist terror attack" whose aim was "to crash the plane with all its passengers."
